Trivial and Less Trivial

The morning of the day before a night duty started with a foray to the Vauxhall garage for a minor repair. Waiting for the car afforded an opportunity to eat an ASDA breakfast. It was undeniably good value at £3 and the ingredients were reasonable but it was not very hot and served lethargically. With a little forethought and a set process they could have got the butter out of the fridge as they opened so that they were not dispensing bullet hard portions during business. Nevertheless, there is great pleasure to be derived from eating a cooked breakfast as slowly as rapidly cooling eggs allow and browsing The Times.

It was an important news day as it saw the arrival of the Pope in Edinburgh. I imagine only Osama bin Laden might have been less welcome. The pontiff has been controversially awarded a state visit. At a time of multiple controversies for the extensively discredited church, this does not sit well with many people. The realities are that, in a time of spreading secularism, the precepts of any mainstream religion are becoming increasingly inappropriate and irrelevant. A separate and complex debate lies behind the supposed moral values of any of the leading faiths although I would concede that, interpreted generously, they have some merits. None of these faiths has implemented the values they espouse with great success or consistency across the ages. None has failed more spectacularly, especially in recent times, than the Catholic Church and no wonder given the tenacious way in which it clings to completely unfounded and anachronisitic philosophies.

This is a church which condemns masturbation but conceals child abuse. This is a church which devalues women in both church and society thus placing itself on a level with more primitive beliefs. This is a church of immeasurable wealth in a world of often incomprehensible poverty. This is a church which forbids birth control in countries which struggle to feed and house their existing populations thus condemning both adults and children to suffering never conceived of God. This is a church blinded to the realities of the modern age and, indeed, the realities of the universe by dogma; dogma for the sake of power, oppression, politics and corruption both moral and financial.

And yet today, its leader moves amongst us, moves amongst the dwindling and deluded faithful with all the fanfare afforded a head of state. Look into his eyes and seek warmth and compassion. You will see neither. These are qualities born of intrinsic humanity not the by-products of faith. If the bible tells us one thing of value it is (to paraphrase) 'do as you would be done by'. To live this moral requires only that you be a decent human being which the Pope, a self-proclaimed messenger of God, is not. Live as your heart guides you and care for your fellow man. This requires only instinct and no false professions of faith.